MADISON - Eight former heads of the state's job-creation efforts — including two appointed by outgoing Gov. Scott Walker — are urging Republican lawmakers to drop a lame-duck plan to change who appoints the head of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.

"If the head of WEDC isn’t a trusted, even central, part of the governor’s cabinet, the whole economic development enterprise will suffer. And so will Wisconsin’s economy," the eight wrote in a lengthy statement released Tuesday.

"The Legislature shouldn’t strip the governor’s power to appoint the quarterback of the economic development team. And if they do, Governor Walker should veto it."

Among the eight who signed it were Paul Jadin and Reed Hall, Walker's first and second director of the WEDC.

Also signing the letter was Bill McCoshen, who headed the state Commerce Department under Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson and was a prime mover in the 2011 effort to convert the Commerce Department into WEDC, a semi-private entity that supporters consider more nimble than its predecessor.

The proposal to change how WEDC's leader is picked is part of sweeping lame-duck legislation to be taken up Tuesday that would also limit early voting, move up the date of the 2020 presidential primary at a cost of nearly $7 million and curb the powers of Democratic Gov.-elect Tony Evers and Democratic Attorney General-elect Josh Kaul.

Under the proposal, WEDC's board would be expanded to include more Republicans. The board — rather than the governor — would pick the agency's leader.

Republicans are proposing the measure because Evers has said he wants to dissolve WEDC and replace it with a fully public agency like the old Commerce Department.

The eight wrote in their statement that it's essential for the person heading the job-creation agency to be trusted by the governor. WEDC's leader must be able to work hand-in-hand with agencies led by the governor's appointees such as the Department of Workforce Development, they wrote. Completing deals sometimes needs the governor to get on the phone, they added.

"Economic development simply won’t work if the leader of WEDC isn’t part of the governor’s team," they wrote.

It is unclear how much influence the statement might have. McCoshen and Hall have sway with Republican lawmakers, but Jadin has rankled them because of his harsh criticism of Walker since leaving WEDC.